TUXEDO — On a warm evening in late July, Greenwood Lake Mayor Jesse Dwyer stood with young men and women welcoming people to a public hearing on the environmental review process for Sterling Forest Resort, the casino proposed by Genting Americas.

The group handed out stickers supporting the project. The men and women, several of whom were from Greenwood Lake, later spoke up at the hearing.

As mayor, Dwyer’s show of support was a given; elected officials in Tuxedo and the neighboring areas support the project. But his presence raised some eyebrows, because Dwyer’s public relations firm, Red Pillar Consulting, has been hired by Genting.

“We know that Greenwood Lake Mayor Jesse Dwyer has been retained by Genting for public relations,” said Rodger Friedman, co-chair of Sterling Forest Partnership and a critic of the casino project, who was responding by email to an article in the Record about the public hearing. “Therefore we suspect that the GWL contingent may have been purchased, although the article represents them as concerned citizens.”

Dwyer disclosed his association with Genting soon after his firm was hired in the spring, and has recused himself from any vote relating to the casino. Greenwood Lake has strong ties with neighboring Tuxedo but is not an approving authority for the project.

Dwyer dismissed suggestions that support from his village had been purchased by Genting.

“There is a natural enthusiasm for this project in Greenwood Lake, with or without my help,” he said, noting that residents were excited about the prospect of jobs, economic development and the construction of Exit 15B on the Thruway.

Russ Haven, a legislative counsel at the New York Public Interest Research Group, described the criticism of Dwyer as “rumor or innuendo.”

Haven suggested that Dwyer reach out to an ethics commission in the area for suggestions on how he might avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest if some people were concerned.